Panzanella or Fattoush?  That is the question.  In reality, they are pretty much the same salad…and yet, not.   That makes no sense, does it?  At their roots, they are both bread salads, with good veggies tossed in.  But it is all about the bread or the pita, and with this version, you don’t have to choose between the two…Fattoush-azella! Panzanella, or Tuscan Bread Salad, is a bread salad.  Bread is the star.  Keep in mind, that freshly baked bread headed south and dried out pretty quickly in times past.  The original purpose of this mixture was to use that less-than-fresh bread.  The vegetables are just there to enhance the bread, not the other way around.  I would imagine that Fattoush, or Lebanese Pita-Vegetable Salad, was created for the same reason, stale pita bread.  But, how we handle the bread/pita is important.  You don’t want to let the bread sit on the counter and dry out…no, no, no.  You want to cube it up and toast those little squares in the oven.  It takes about 10 minutes, because you don’t want the toasted cubes to break your jaw.  Since, I’m making this for just two people, I use the toaster oven for the pita and bread.  I used pocketless pita, which has a nice texture when toasted, but pocketed pita will be delightfully crisp, almost potato chip-like.  Personally, I prefer to have a combination of the two, so, I used some nice whole-grain “regular” bread, as well as the pocketed pita.

As to the vegetables, tomatoes are front and center with these salads.  But, we also add cucumbers, onions, bell peppers, and fresh herbs tossed together and bathed in a nice little vinaigrette.  That’s pretty much it for both salads.  We can probably assume the original salads didn’t even contain tomatoes.  Tomatoes are a New World “discovery”, so Europe didn’t know them until probably about the 16th century and these salads have been around long before that.  Anyway, I love this salad in summer.  Hands down, for the best flavor, you want to use just-picked, summer tomatoes, still warm from the sun.  But, it’s not August.  So now what?

In the off-season, I use either heirloom tomatoes from the supermarket or those colorful cherry tomatoes that are available all year.  Either will make a decent out-of-season salad.  I use English (or Persian) cucumbers, no matter when I make this salad; I prefer to leave the peel on.  I’ve used Vidalia, red onion, spring onions or scallions.  Any of these are good, but scallions are readily available all year and they’re a bit more mild and won’t take over.  I’ve used both fresh bell peppers and roasted peppers, and either is delicious.  But, these days I’m liking those small sweet peppers that you can get on olive bars.  And olives.  I like black olives, but you can use whatever you want.  For the herbs, this is where you can have some real fun.  I’ve used fresh basil, Thai or lemon basil, lemon verbena, oregano, dill, cilantro, mint, or fennel fronds.  I don’t use parsley.  I don’t see the point when I have all those other options.  But, if parsley is your preference, knock yourself out.  I prefer to combine several of these herbs—basil, lemon verbena, oregano and a few mint leaves are my favorite combo.

I combine the vinaigrette ingredients in the bottom of the salad bowl.  It just works well, and no extra bowl to wash.  I really like a mustard-forward, sharp vinaigrette, with just a hint of sweetness.  If you’re making this with fresh, garden tomatoes, you may not need the added sweetness.  Just whisk everything together, except the oil, then drizzle in the oil…you know the drill.  I add the tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes (jicama is also good), olives, scallions, pickled peppers (Where’s Peter Piper when you need him?) and red pepper flavors, if I’m using them.  I stir this all together and let it “steep” for about 15 minutes.  Notice, I don’t add the fresh herbs at this point.  They are the very last thing you’re going to add, to keep the flavors sharp.

The last thing I add is the bread.  I pop the bread in the toaster oven and toast it up until it has really good color and is crisp-ish.  It shouldn’t be like cardboard.  I dice up the pita and the bread, toss them into the bowl and let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes, tossing a couple of times during the “nap”.

This salad can be made a couple of hours ahead, but I never refrigerate it, particularly, when I’m using garden tomatoes.  If you refrigerate the salad, the tomatoes will lose significant flavor.  Since this is a combination of both Fattoush and Panzanella, we’ll call this Fattoush-azella!  Then, it’s dinner!

Next time I make this, I will salt the tomatoes slightly, let them drain.  But, I’ll save that drained juice and whisk it into the vinaigrette.  It should make a more intensely flavored salad…I’ll keep you posted.

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